Interview with Flash Fiction Writer Michael Kechula

A former writer of technical manuals, award-winning author Michael Kechula now focuses on what he loves most: writing speculative flash fiction. Some of his works combine nasty horror with humor. He's the author of A Full Deck of Zombies: 61 Speculative Fiction Tales. Kechula is one of the most prolific short story writers I've ever encountered on the net. Over the past four years his work has been accepted by 121 magazines and anthologies in Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, India, and the US. Last December alone he got 35 stories accepted, and he's had as many as six stories accepted by various magazines in a single day. Is his productivity a result of a pact with the devil? Read on to find out.

Thanks for being here today, Michael. Why don't you start by telling us a little about yourself?

I’m 69 years old, a retired technical writer and course developer. I’ve been writing nonfiction forever, but I didn’t start writing fiction until I was 63 years old.

I live in the Phoenix area. Lived in Las Vegas for three years where I wrote manuals for casino slot machine technicians. Before that, I lived in California in what is known as Silicon Valley where I worked for the IBM Corporation for twenty-seven years.

I now write fiction every day and critique dozens of flash fiction stories every week. Sometimes I critique novels.

I’m not a poet, and will never be one. I’m not a novelist and never will be one. I don’t think I could write a novel that anybody would care to read. I’m sure my poetry would be so bad, I’d lose my citizenship and be banished from Planet Earth.

A few years ago, I discovered a literary form called flash fiction. I joined FlashXer, a Yahoo writing group, owned by Pam Casto, a flash fiction guru. Joining that group changed my life. Almost all the hundreds of stories I’ve written have started as responses to prompts issued three times a week by Irv Pliskin, moderator of FlashXer. A prolific writer, Irv is a World War II bomber navigator who survived being shot down and confined in German POW camps.

I’m a digital photography nut. I have six digital cameras — one for various kinds of subject material. Fiction Flyer Magazine will publish my photos online starting in their next issue. I’m particularly fond of taking super macro photos where I can get the camera right inside a flower, or take a picture of, say, a bee in which you can count the hairs on its fuzzy body.

Besides being the author of 29 nonfiction books, you now also write flash
fiction in various genres, including horror. For those readers who aren't
familiar with the term, what is flash fiction, exactly?

Article Author: Mayra Calvani

Mayra Calvani is the National Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com.

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